


Some times Lois Lane doesn’t find out about Matt Murdock and one time she does

by Nautika



Series: I'm not Daredevil, really! [5]
Category: DCU (Comics), Daredevil (Comics), Daredevil (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, BAMF Karen Page, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Frank Is A Dork, Gen, Identity Reveal, Kidnapping, Matt Is A Dork, Non-Graphic Violence, Rescue, Reveal, Secret Identity, The League of Assassins (DCU), danny is a dork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-05-12 14:13:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19230742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nautika/pseuds/Nautika
Summary: Lois Lane has entered the Journalist Exchange Program and now resides in New York City for the next few months.Who's the guide that shows her the ropes at the New York Bulletin? Why, Miss Karen Page, of course!Throw in the mysterious Devil of Hell's Kitchen and you got yourself a story of how Lois manages to survive New York City, becomes best friends with her fellow journalist by day, and tries to hunt down Daredevil by night.This is the fifth part of my "I'm not Daredevil, really!" series. You don't need the other parts to understand this one, all relevant info will be in the notes at the beginning :)





	1. New York, New York!

**Author's Note:**

> At this point in the series, Foggy, Karen and Frank Castle know that Matt ist Daredevil, as do the Avengers from the first movie.  
> Matt and Frank are roommates and look after each other. Threaten Matt and you'll have to fight off the Punisher. 
> 
> I'm not sure yet of how this one will turn out. Might be a little less crack-ish than parts 1-3 and will definitely be less crack than part 4.  
> Buuuut, as always, I'm making it up as I go. I've got a rough idea as to where I want to go with this, though (and I'm so excited because my all time favorite hero will finally show his face in one of my fics, wheee! But I'm not spoiling anything, that'd be a Dick move. Hehe.)
> 
> I'm always happy to get Kudos and especially comments, of course, but no pressure :) 
> 
> You wanna talk to me outside the comment section? Visit my tumblr, I'm nauticalypso.

New York City.

The city that never sleeps, home of Wall Street and Broadway, the Empire State Building and that one giant christmas tree. It reminded Lois of Metropolis in the way every giant city does. Except Gotham, of course, because that’s a shithole and we don’t talk about it. Gotham’s the cousin nobody likes except their creepy Batfather. But New York! New York was like Metropolis in the best way possible! Tall buildings and no creepy statues except that one in the harbour! Glamour! Musicals! Superheroes!

Lois smiled. She’ll miss Clark, her co-worker and friend, of course, but she could definitely imagine living and working here for some time.

Looking at her watch, she decided to get a cup of coffee before making her way to the newspaper she’ll spend the next few months working for. Entering the coffee shop, she ordered her drink and went for her wallet.

Which wasn’t where it should be.

“Crap,” she mumbled, looking around frantically. “Not on the first day. Again.”

Just as she was about to apologize to the cashier, she heard a yell and the sound of someone falling down, followed by a second yell and the sound of someone crashing into the person who fell down before them.

Lois turned around and blinked. There, in a heap of arms and legs, two guys were in the process of cursing and detangling themselves. Lois heard grunting and pretty colorful cursing, until the smaller guy went still.

“Matt!” he whispered, sounding shocked. “What would Father Lantom say?”

More cursing before the taller guy - Matt, seemingly - finally managed to free himself.

“Fog,” he grumbled, probably aware that the eyes of everyone were on them, “what the fuck?”

“It’s not my fault!” the other guy - Fog - defended himself, his eyes on the floor. “I stepped on something and slipped! Wait, uh.. aha!” he exclaimed, triumphantly holding up a… oh. Lois was torn between wishing the ground would swallow her whole and the feeling of immense relief. She walked cautiously over, waving slightly.

“Uh, hey there. Ya, sorry. That’s, uh, mine,” she said, smiling carefully, and noticing how the Fog-guy took a small, protective step in front of the Matt-guy, nudging him with his elbow questioningly. Matt-guy ever-so-slightly nodded and Fog-guy relaxed.

“Alright Miss, uhm. Here, I guess.” Fog said, holding out the wallet for her to grab, and Matt rolled his eyes before putting a pair of red sunglasses on his nose and unfolding a cane.

Great, so she had just brought down a blind guy.

“Sorry again,” she said. “But on the bright side, your coffee’s on me now, if that’s alright with you guys?”

Both blinked at each other, then at her, then shrugged, said “sure!” and grinned simultaneously. It was kind of creepy, but Lois had had worse. Running late already, she bought them their coffee, apologized again, and left them to their drinks.

 

She arrived at the _New York Bulletin_ without running into any more problems. Stepping up the stairs, Lois found the front desk and was told to wait, as someone would be with her shortly.

Not five minutes later, a blond mop of hair came around the corner, and the woman the mop belonged to smiled happily at her.

“Lois Lane? Hi, I’m Karen Page and I’ll be your guide for the next weeks! How are you, how was your trip?”

Lois couldn’t help but smile back. “Hi! Thanks for having me. Oh, it was fine, really. I’m really sorry that you’re going to be stuck with me, though!”

Karen’s eyes widened and she let out a laugh. “Are you kidding? You’re Lois Lane, _the_ Lois Lane! I’ve fought half my co-workers over the chance to be your guide! I’ve lost a nail scratching out Betty’s eye! So it’s more like _you’re_ stuck with my newbie self. Sorry, not sorry!”

Lois grinned. Alright, that would be even more fun than expected. “Newbie? Karen, I’ve read all about you and I absolutely love your work. You seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to, well, basically everything.”

Lois noticed with amusement how Karen’s cheeks went red and she seemed to barely suppress a happy squeak. So as the older and more experienced of the two of them, Lois linked her arms with Karen’s, smiling. “I think that’s the start of a wonderful friendship.”

 

And it was. It really, really was. They hit it off right away, spending their working days together, going to the movies or the theater in the evening, and generally having a great time. Lois didn’t for a second regret her decision to enter the Journalist exchange program and she was oh so glad Karen scratched out Betty’s eye for it.

The hit it off so well that Karen invited Lois to stay with her for the duration of the exchange, and Lois agreed. Life was great!

 

So of course they got mugged one day later.

 

It happened, as it always does, in a dark alley. They took a shortcut to their apartment and suddenly Lois found herself at the wrong end of a knife.

With Karen next to her, the two women took a step back, but the small knife wielding gang of six had them cornered.

Lois was by no means a damsel and she knew how to defend herself - but not against that many guys. So she did the only reasonable thing: she sighed and held up her hands.

“Alright, you want money? Just let me open my purse, okay?”

“Better be fast with it,” the leader said threateningly, waving his knife around.

Lois grunted, rummaging for her wallet. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Karen mirroring her and she nodded to herself. Clever girl, no amount of money was worth their lives.

The muggers watched the two women doing as they were told and visibly relaxed. Which turned out to be a mistake on their part.

Faster than Lois could blink, Karen had drawn a freaking gun out of her purse, aiming at the muggers.

“So this is how it’s gonna go,” she said coldly and with steel in her voice. “You’re going to drop your knives, turn around and get the hell out of town, you understand? I’ll count to three and if you’re not gone then, I’m gonna start shooting! One!”

All six muggers grinned from ear to ear.

“Ya not gonna shoot, lady,” the leader said.

“Two!” Karen snarled.

Lois held her breath, stepping slowly behind her friend. Unlike the muggers, she had no doubt Karen would make good on her threat, that much she knew about her.

The muggers, though, did obviously _not_ know her.

“Awww, look at the little lady over there,” the leader laughed. “Trying to play with the boys, honey?”

Karen’s eyes narrowed. “Three,” she said, and calmly put a bullet in the leader’s shoulder.

Too surprised to do anything else, the guy started screaming bloody murder.

“Shall I start counting again, _sweety_?” Karen snarled. “Alright! One!”

She didn’t need to count any further, though. The would-be muggers hightailed it out of the alley, but didn’t take the tension with them: Karen’s gun kept aiming at their backs, until Lois cleared her throat.

“Karen? They’re gone now. You can… you can relax,” Lois said, slowly lifting her hand to touch her friend’s shoulder.

It took some time for Karen to relax her posture enough to let her arm down, but the tension didn’t leave her for one second.

“Sorry,” she finally said.

Lois furrowed her brow. “Sorry? What for?”

“Hn. Everything, I guess. That you had to see this. Me. Like that.”

Loid looked at her incredulously. “You’re kidding, right? You were badass as fuck! Oh my god, there’s a picture of you next to the word ‘badass’ in the dictionary! Jesus Christ, Karen! I’m so going to write an article about that!”

Karen went red in the face, embarrassed. “Please don’t,” she laughed weakly, but her shoulders relaxed a tiny bit further. Lois took that as her signal to continue babbling.

“No, really! That was great! I mean, I was completely useless here! I’m from Metropolis and usually when there’s danger, Superman swoops in, scaring the bad guys away. Here? Nobody just drops down in front of you!”

 

A dark figure dropped down in front of them.

 

Both women screamed.

Karen fired her gun a second time that day.

 


	2. Child's play

“Jesus freaking Christ!” a deep voice cursed, and Karen immediately ran up to the dark figure.

“Shit, I’m so sorry!” she apologized, pawing at the guys arm, where Lois could make out the telltale glistening of blood.

The guy in black kept himself still. “The bullet only grazed me, Ka.. ma’am,” he grunted. “It’s just a small flesh wound. The better question is - are _you_ alright?”

Karen made a sound as if someone had stepped on her puppy.

“We are fine, yes. But thank you for dropping by… and if I can do anything?” she asked, eyes wide.

Dread Pirate Roberts smirked. “Why, Miss. I’ll let you know if I need any… help,” he said with an obvious and over the top leer, and Lois immediately felt sorry for the guy’s far too perfect teeth, as Karen would surely knock them out after a comment like that.

To Lois’ immense surprise, however, no such thing happened. On the contrary - Karen looked like she had to suppress a grin and only slapped the guys softly on his far too muscular stomach. And then - and then! She could have sworn she’d heard Karen whisper a “patch you later”, followed by an amused snort, before the guy scaled up a fire escape and vanished over the roof.

 

“Well,” Lois said. “That was… something?”

Karen still had a little smile on her face. “So now you’ve met Daredevil,” she said.

Lois blinked. “Daredevil? I thought he was a myth.”

Karen grinned. “As much a myth as Batman, I suppose.”

“I don’t think Batman would flirt with someone who shot him,” Lois said dryly, but Karen just laughed.

“He’s fine. He’s had worse. He’s getting shot all the time,” she assured.

“Does he now?” Lois smelled blood. “Did they show that on the news? And, for the record, that doesn’t make it any better.”

That was met with a raised eyebrow.

“You interrogating me, Lane?”

“I don’t know, should I? You _did_ seem pretty close for a minute there,” Lois said, eyeing Karen.

Who just smiled innocently.

Lois narrowed her eyes. “You know him, don’t you?”

Karen hummed. “That’s for you to find out, isn’t it?”

Lois narrowed her eyes even further. “I can’t tell if you’re joking or not, but that sounded like a challenge.”

“Maybe it was?” Karen grinned, and Lois’ eyebrows went up.

“Oh, Miss Page, you’re on!”

Karen just laughed. “Come on, let’s get a bottle of wine or two and just head home, been a long night.”

Lois wasn’t clear on if it had been the adrenaline rush of almost getting mugged, almost killing Daredevil, or successfully shooting a criminal, but Karen Page challenging her to find out Daredevil’s identity? Daredevil, who might be a friend of hers? Oh boy, Lois wasn’t sure if she could square it with her conscience to-

Eh, who was she kidding. Of course she could. And she would figure it out sooner rather than later.  Child’s play for a reporter such as she was one. It’d take a week, at most, of that she was sure.

 

* * *

 

A week later found Lois Lane, respected temp at the _New York Bulletin_ , running from ninjas. Actual, real life ninjas.

She was so glad Karen had a nasty cold and couldn’t accompany her, as she usually did on her stake-out nights. Just to laugh at her, of course, as she failed to nail down the ghost that was Daredevil, only for Karen to meet up with said ghost shortly after, waving at Lois.

She was pretty sure that Karen had tipped Daredevil off, and all concerns about loyalty to Daredevil on Karen’s side had gone right out the window.

So now they were in a game of cat and mouse and she was Catwoman in that arrangement. Uh, wait, no, that came out wrong. Cheetah? No, that name was also already taken, and not by a particularly nice person.

But really, there were now three players on the board: Lois, the hunter. Daredevil, the hunted. And Karen, the wine-sipping, comments-making, always-up-to-shenanigans pain in her ass and possibly best friend besides Diana.

A shuriken embedded itself into the wall next to her.

Right. Ninjas.

And they were catching up fast.

She turned a corner and was immediately grabbed from behind and dragged into an empty building, a gloved hand covering her mouth. She struggled, but to no avail, the guy was just too strong and was - trying to shush her? For real? Lois, without further ado, took a bite out off the offending hand.

The guy, to his credit, only hissed, before stepping into a small ray of light coming through the door.

Ah.

“Sorry,” Lois whispered softly, spitting out blood. Daredevil grimaced.

“That’s a first,” he grunted quietly, wiping the bloody hand on his black pants. “Now shush, they’re almost gone.”

And so they waited in silence with the Devil occasionally wiping the blood off his hand. Finally, he nodded.

“Alright, they’re gone. Won’t be back tonight.”

“Ninjas!” Lois hissed. “I’ve never before been attacked by ninjas! Who were they?”

“The Hand,” Daredevil said gravely.

Lois blinked. “Oh, yes, well, sorry about that. You shouldn’t just grab people, though.”

“What? No, not _that_ hand, _the_ Hand, capital H. It’s an order of evil mystical ninjas. They do organized crime and stuff.”

“...and stuff..?” Lois asked, lost, but Daredevil just waved it aside.

“You know, stuff. Like torture and assassinations. The works.”

“...the works..?” blinked Lois.

Daredevil nodded. “Yeah. Dangerous people.”

He tilted his head. “So what did they want with you?”

Lois just shook her head. “I have no idea. But evil mystical ninjas hell bent on killing me fits exactly into my life so far.”

She looked at Daredevil. “So let’s work together?”

 

Daredevil took a step back. “Oh hell no!” he said. “Karen would have my head!”

Lois considered this. “We could just.. not tell her?”, but Daredevil shook his head.

“No, she always finds out and then there would be hell to pay.”

“You’re right. Didn’t feel right anyway,” Lois agreed.

They thought about it, until Lois shrugged.

“I mean, we could always just tell her? She’s one hell of a reporter, maybe better than I am.”

Daredevil immediately grinned and Lois scowled.

“If you tell her I said that, I’ll bite your hand off,” she threatened, and Daredevil held his hands up.

“Not telling her anything,” he smirked. Then he licked his lips. “I suppose it would make.. sense for me to show you my face now, though,” he said, fingers brushing his mask.

“Aah-ah! No, no, don’t show me!” she said, quickly turning around.

“Huh? But it would make sense,” Daredevil said, confused.

“Yeah, it would. But…” she said.

“But?” he inquired.

“There’s this bet,” she said.

“A bet?” he asked.

“With Karen,” she said.

“I know,” he replied.

“You do?” she asked.

“Of course. Karen told me,” he said.

“Huh,” said Lois. “So now you see.”

Daredevil’s lips quirked. “Nah, not really,” he said, oddly amused.

Lois blinked. Strange guy.

“Okay,” she said, slowly. “Now I’ll go home and tell Karen about everything, and you, uh. You keep on daredeviling? I guess?”

Daredevil nodded. “Karen knows how to get in contact with me. But if you’re in trouble, you can just yell for me. That works, too.”

Lois shook her head. “Whatever you say, Devilboy.”

 

Karen was not amused, to say the least.

She was, however, glad to hear they’d decided not to leave her in the dark about everything.

“So he did learn something, after all,” she harrumphed, which told Lois exactly nothing.

She waved it aside.

“Anyway, then I took a bite out of his hand,” Lois admitted, embarrassed.

Karen laughed. “Oh, don’t worry, people bite him all the time,” she said, and Lois blinked.

“What? He told me that was the first time!”

“And you believed him?”

“Well.. yes? I don’t know him?”

“Point.” Karen said.

Lois nodded and stood up, stretching her body. “But now let’s just relax for a while, yeah? I’m beat,” she said, looking around. “Hey, uh, have you seen my book?”

“You left it on the balcony,” Karen said, pointing.

“Ah, of course, thanks,” Lois said, stepping onto the balcony. “At least up here nobody can just drop down right in front of us,” she said, smiling.

 

A dark and burly figure dropped down on the balcony right in front of them.

“Ya seen my idiot roommate?” the guy grunted.

 

Lois screamed.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DarthTofu, I read your comment on the first chapter while writing this one here and decided to stea- uh, get inspired by the "I'm getting shot all the time" :D


	3. Chinatown

The big and burly guy didn’t pay her any attention at all as he entered the apartment.

“Karen, ya seen Red? I wanna wring his scrawny neck!” he harrumphed.

Lois glanced at Karen and, judging by her rather amused reaction, they weren’t in any danger. She relaxed slightly before going back inside.

Then she blanched. In the dark outside, she hadn’t recognized him - but this was clearly Frank Castle! What the fuck was the Punisher doing here?

“Karen..?” she said quietly, a bit unsure, and looking for her phone. This would warrant to call 911, wouldn’t it? She spotted the phone on the coffee table and slid her way to it.

“You pick up that phone, I’m gonna throw it out the window,” Frank Castle growled. Lois was about to steel herself and pick it up anyway, when Karen sighed.

“It’s alright, Lois,” she said. “Frank’s a friend.”

Frank preened.

Lois blinked. “A what now?”

Karen finally looked at. “I wouldn’t say he’s a good guy-”

Frank harrumphed.

“-but he’s a friend. And helpful from time to time. And, uh…” she hesitated, but then just shook her head, “and he’s Daredevil’s roommate.”

“Daredevil’s roommate,” Lois said.

“Yep,” Frank replied.

“As in living together - roommate,” Lois said.

“Yep,” Frank confirmed.

“Like… together-together?” Lois asked.

Frank’s brow furrowed. “How else would one live together?” he asked, clearly confused.

Karen grinned. “Oh? Is there something you wanna tell me?” she said, turning to Frank with a glint in her eye.

Frank blinked. And blinked again. Then it dawned on him and he let out a frustrated grunt. “Why’s everyone assuming we’re fucking? We’re just sharing the fridge! Jesus Christ, woman!”

Karen laughed it off and turned to Lois. “It’s true, he needed a place to lie low for a while and just never moved out.”

“Uh-huh,” Lois said, processing. “Okay, and… what’s he doing here now?”

Karen turned to Frank. “Fair question. Oh, wait, no, let me guess: Daredevil.”

Frank grunted. “Yeah. Said I’d better get my arse to you ‘cause some hands are out and about?”

“The Hand,” Karen and Lois said in unison.

“Whatever,” Frank said. “Asshole blackmailed me into playing bodyguard for you two. Not that he needed to,” he was fast to assure, “I’d have come either way!”

“I’d hope so,” Karen grumbled. “What did he blackmail you with? You guys are living together for close to a year, he wouldn’t just hand you over to the police.”

“Nah, he wouldn’t. ‘s not that,” Frank grumbled, looking down. “Doesn’t matter. I’m here now.”

Huh, Lois thought. The Punisher looking embarrassed was not something she thought she’d see in the near future.

Karen clearly thought it best to not press Frank anymore, so she just nodded.

“Alright, so… what now?”

Frank shrugged. “It’s late. How about you go to bed and I’m keeping my eyes open?”

Both women went to protest this, but yawned immediately and simultaneously. Lois had to laugh.

“Well, I guess that’s that for the night,” she said. “Thank you for keeping an eye out, Mr. Castle.”

The Punisher… blushed? It was adorable, really.

“It’s Frank, ma’am,” he said.

Lois smiled. “Then it’s Lois, Frank,” she said, holding out her hand for him to shake.

He took it.

Karen beamed. Two of her best friends getting to know each other? It was a good day!

 

* * *

 

Thankfully, the night was quiet, as was the following day. Lois convinced Karen to take a trip to the local police station together, in order to cautiously ask around if someone had reported, well, a bunch of ninjas.

The friendly black haired officer at the front desk beamed at them as soon as they entered the building, but unfortunately couldn’t give them any information. Something about him jogged Lois’ memory, but she couldn’t quite grasp it. Ah, well, maybe she’d seen him in passing. She shrugged it off.

 

For obvious reasons, Frank hadn’t been able to accompany them to the station, and he was becoming antsy, if his frequent phone calls were anything to go by. Lois was pretty sure that Karen would be making fun of this for the foreseeable future.

Back home, the three of them tried to come up with a plan of what to do now, when Lois suddenly blinked.

“It’s ninjas,” she said, like they hadn’t been over that at least five times.

“And?” Karen said.

“I’m not from around here, sure, but isn’t there a place in New York City where we could get more information?”

Karen immediately caught on. As did Frank, who stood up forcefully.

“Hell no!” he said.

“Hell yes,” Karen and Lois said in unison.

“You’re not going to-”

“Chinatown!” both women exclaimed.

“Listen, we’re not looking for ninjas, we’re trying to avoid ninjas!”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Karen sing-songed, already fetching her coat.

Frank drew a hand over his face. “Fuck. Red will have my head.”

 

* * *

 

So, Lois didn’t know what exactly she had been expecting coming here. Realistically, yeah, she knew there wouldn’t be any ninjas outright attacking her in the sunny afternoon sun. But had she hoped they would? Kinda. Maybe. At least then she might have gotten some answers.

As it was, they were wandering the streets of Chinatown for three hours, had talked to every shop owner, had eaten a lovely dinner at one of the restaurants before trying to bully the owner into giving them information. Well, Frank and Karen had, while Lois had stood nearby, listening and taking notes.

They left empty handed, every time. It seemed like the waste of a perfectly fine afternoon, until a bunch of not particularly trustworthy looking individuals tried to corner them into an alley. They didn’t seem to have any guns, but were armed with baseball bats and stupidity.

Frank, wearing a cap and sunglasses, was having none of that.

He stepped in front of both Karen and Lois, pulling out two of the biggest guns Lois had ever seen.

“Piss off, if ya know what’s good for ya,” he grunted.

Karen cooed quietly. “See that, Lois?” she whispered. “Progress. A year ago he’d just have shot his way out of here.”

The bad guys, clearly not expecting that much resistance, slowly backed off - at least until Lois could hear a quiet *click* behind her. She swallowed, slowly turning around. As did Karen and Frank.

One of the biggest guys she’d ever seen stood there, pointing a gun at Lois, but looking at Frank. “I’d lose those guns if I were you,” he said pleasantly. The baseball bat gang perked up at that and began to slowly close in again.

Frank was about to toss his guns, ‘cause what else could he do, when the big guy’s legs suddenly collapsed. The gun went off, but a blur of arms and legs had already secured it and the shot fired harmlessly into the air, scaring some pigeons away.

The big guy tried to rise again and failed miserably due to a boot pressing him down into the street.

“I’d stay down if I were you,” the voice the boot belonged to threatened. “Also, you’re under arrest.”

Lois finally found the time to look up and- was that the young officer from the station? She felt an elbow nudging her and looked at Karen, who obviously also recognized him.

Meanwhile, the officer had secured the big guy and read him his rights, and was now again beaming at them.

“Hey there, seems like we’re following the same leads, huh?” he laughed, not at all concerned with what had just happened. Lois notices that Frank hat pulled his hat further down and was trying to awkwardly shuffle away.

“Seems like that, yes,” Lois finally found her voice. Karen just nodded.

The officer smiled again. “Just please be more careful in the future. You were lucky I was there!” he said, dragging the big guy after him to a police cruiser.

“Yeah, lucky..” Lois murmured, watching as the officer put the guy in the car, before coming back to them.

“I’m going to need you statements on this. Might be better to give them at the station, though, as I’m fearing we’re attracting quite the crowd here,” he said and gave them both a card. “Please come in tomorrow and ask for me. It’s all on the cards,” he pointed. Then he flicked his eyes in the direction Frank had shuffled off in. “Oh, and two statements should be enough. No need to bring your friend, Miss Page, Miss Lane.” he said quietly, before bouncing to his car, waving, and driving off.

Frank came back.

“Okay. What was that?” he said out loud what everyone was thinking.

 

* * *

 

“It might be a trap,” Daredevil said thoughtfully. “He could be spy for the Hand.”

Everyone murmured their agreement. The young officer had been pretty suspicious in his timing, and he had clearly been trained in something other than police standard stuff.

Lois said as much. “And he didn’t arrest Frank, even though he clearly knew who he was,” she added.

Frank nodded. “Yep, can confirm. We should all watch our backs.”

Daredevil sighed. “Alright. I’ll look into it,” he said. Then he grinned.

Frank and Karen groaned.

“You’re the worst,” Karen said.

Lois just blinked, confused, as Daredevil disappeared into the shadows.

Karen cleared her throat. “So we’re in agreement that we should be careful, yes?”

Everyone nodded.

“And that it’d be best if we didn’t show our faces more than necessary, yes?”

Everyone nodded again.

“And that it’s best to stay in well-lit areas, yes?”

Everyone continues to nod.

Karen took a deep breath. “So why are we in the middle of Central Park at midnight?”

Frank shrugged. “Red said so. He’d said we’d meet someone here…”

Lois tilted her head, smiling. “At least in a park, nobody can just drop down right in front of us.”

 

A masked figure dropped down right in front of them.

 

All screamed.

Frank Castle punched Danny Rand in the face.

 

Some leaves rustled behind a tree.

“Sweet Christmas," a voice said. "I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now."

 


	4. Hell City

“A dragon? Really?” Lois said, sitting cross-legged on the couch, taking notes.

Danny somehow managed to preen and nod enthusiastically despite his still bleeding nose. Frank packed quite a punch, after all. 

Karen silently handed him more tissues. 

“You really don’t have to do this,” she told Luke. “You don’t have to stay. We’ll be fine.”

Luke shook his head. “No can do, sorry. DD told us about the Hand, and we’re happy to help!”

“Yes, and we appreciate it, really, we do,” Karen said. “But my apartment is barely big enough for Lois and myself, and Frank’s already sleeping on the couch. So…?”

Luke shrugged. “I’ll share with Frank. Danny’ll sleep on the floor. It’s fine.”

Danny nodded. “Yes. Also, DD would have our heads if we bailed. He smiled that terrifying smile of his when he asked us.”

Frank tilted his head, curious. “With teeth?”

Danny shuddered. 

 

* * *

 

After sneakily taking a picture of the biggest and burliest guys she had ever seen sleeping next to each other and completely dwarfing a pull-out, Lois retired to her own room, nearly falling over a curled up Danny.

Sleep didn’t come easy to her that night. There was so much to think about, especially about the two new guys on the team. Luke Cage she remembered vaguely. He’d made the news some time ago, the Hero of Harlem. How a guy like him had ended up with a surprisingly naiv and good natured billionaire was anyone’s guess. Or, it would have been, she thought, if said billionaire wasn’t also some sort of lunatic who apparently runs around punching dragons. She shook her head. It seemed absolutely ridiculous, as ridiculous as if someone told her, next town posh billionaire Bruce Wayne moonlighted as the Batman. She snorted at the thought. 

But Danny Rand seemed to be the real deal. It was like Frank had said, that he’d “got the tattoo and everything”. The costume was a bit much, though, she thought. The open shirt, the high collar, the yellow mask? A bit dramatic, if you asked her, especially if you compared it to Daredevil’s simple black outfit. Nothing overly dramatic whatsoever. The guy seemed really down to earth. Well, Lois thought, it probably would have been too absurd to go with the theme and add, say, horns or so to the costume. No, Daredevil’s name alone carried enough authority, no need for dramatics. 

Lois stared at the ceiling and sighed. Maybe she’d get herself a glass of warm milk with honey to help her go to sleep. 

Decision made, she got up and was about to pad into the kitchen, when she heard someone talking quietly. She strained her ears.

“...-wing,” a mystery voice whispered. It seemed a bit familiar, but Lois couldn’t point her finger on it. 

“Don’t know of him. You think he’s a threat?” Frank whispered back. 

“No,” the voice said. “He’s got a reputation as a hero.  Just don’t know what he’s doing here now, but I’ll keep looking into it.”

“You do that. And Matty? Be careful. Maybe he’s Hand.” Frank again.

“Doubt it, but I’ll watch my back.”

There was a quiet noise as Frank shut the balcony door after the guy had obviously left. Lois waited until Frank was back on the sofa before she opened her door, nearly fell over Danny again, and went into the kitchen as if nothing happened. Matty, she thought. She wondered if it was a new player on the field or if Daredevil had decided to do a late night visit. Matty. Seemed somewhat familiar. 

She shook her head. Even so, there was probably more than one Matty in New York. She made a mental note of the name and that there apparently was a new hero in town, and went back to bed. 

 

* * *

 

The next morning had them splitting up as Frank couldn’t and Luke didn’t want to accompany them to the police station to give their statements of the events the day before. That left Danny, who looked as threatening as a rubber duck, with his wide eyes and easygoing smile. Lois eyed him thoughtfully and decided that Karen and her gun might be their best bet should everything go inevitably pear-shaped. 

They entered the police station for the second time in as many days. Walking up to the front desk, Karen rummaged through her bag and presented the officer there with the card.

Five minutes later, the officer from the day before walked in, smiling brightly. 

“Hey, sorry for the wait! Please follow me, I’ll take your statements,” he said, ushering them into a windowless room. Lois noticed that Karen seemed uncomfortable and furrowed her brow. She gave Danny a look. He tilted his head, nodded, turned to the officer and began babbling about how he’d always wanted to be a police officer and why did you become one and is it exciting and-

Lois tuned him out and turned to Karen “Is everything alright?” she asked quietly.

Karen nodded. “Yes.. it’s just…” She took a breath. “Last time I was in a room like this, I had been accused of murder. So I might be a bit nervous,” she answered.

Lois raised her eyebrows. “Okay? Do you want to talk about it?”

Karen shook her head, a little smile visible. “I’ll tell you as soon as there’s time. It’s not all bad, promise. But first, let’s rescue Officer Grayson from Danny’s jabbering, shall we?” she whispered, grinning.

Lois nodded and looked up, expecting to see a very irritated police officer.

Instead, she found both Danny and the officer deep in conversation about dragons, tattoos and immortality, with Danny’s shirt hanging open showing off his tattoo, and the officer looking like he was barely stopping himself from squealing. 

Lois blinked. 

Karen facepalmed. 

It took some time for them to finally give their statements. 

 

* * *

 

“What is it with New York and getting mugged?” Lois said, feeling annoyed and stupid. She and Karen had only wanted to get home after ditching Danny with the officer, who seemed delighted to grab a beer with him and talk even more, Jesus Christ. 

“Yes, it’s alright,” they had said.

“Nothing bad will happen,” they had reassured.

“We won’t take any shortcuts,” they had promised.

“No, we won’t tell Luke. Or Daredevil,” they had pledged. 

They really should have known better. Now here they were, both kneeling on the ground next to a big pile of trash. Karen hadn’t been able to get to her gun and was glaring at the muggers. 

“You don’t know what you’re doing,” she hissed. 

“Oh, we know,” the leader grinned. “We’ve got orders to take you in, Miss Page. And your companion.”

Lois gritted her teeth. No simple mugging, then.

“Take me in?” Karen snarled. “Where to? What for? You’ll have to know we won’t go quietly.”

Lois really loved her spunk, but wasn’t too sure if this was the right moment for it. She thought about yelling for Superman, pretty sure he would be able to hear her and, given his record, rescue them. 

But it’d take at least a few seconds. Seconds in which the bad guys could very well just shoot them dead. Lois desperately tried to come up with an idea to call for help without it being obvious.

Finally she blinked. Huh. It might work? 

At least it was worth a try, she supposed, and looked at Karen.

 

“Well,” Lois said. “At least here, nobody drops down right in front of us.”

 

* * *

 

Karen blinked.

The bad guys looked confused.

Lois waited.

The pile of trash stirred. 

 

Lois cleared her throat.

“I said,” she repeated, a little louder, “at least nobody drops down right in front of us!”

 

Immediately, a blur of green and yellow descended upon the bad guys, making short work of most of them. Lois watched as a machete smacked against a brightly glowing hand, only for the machete to break into a million pieces. 

Suddenly, there was the click of a gun next to her. She gritted her teeth. Not again. 

Everything came to a halt as the leader pointed his gun right at her head. 

“I’m gonna kill her!” the guy shouted, and Danny stopped in his tracks, glaring at him. He knew he wouldn’t be fast enough, they all knew it. Lois braced herself and was about to close her eyes when the pile of trash moved again.

A split second later a shot went off into the air, prompting the same pigeon as last time to move to another city. 

Lois opened her eyes and looked up. 

A gangly woman stood there, clad in jeans, boots and a shirt. A bottle of booze in one hand, the now deformed gun in the other. A banana peel on her shoulder and the bad guy knocked out on the ground in front of her.

“Not today, asshole,” she slurred, before wobbling three steps and drunkenly collapsing into Danny’s arms. 

“Huh,” Karen said. “Was wondering when she would show up.”

Lois just stared at all of them. “What the hell kind of city is this?!”

 


	5. Holy Cliffhanger, Batman!

“What the hell kind of city is this?! Who is that drunk woman?! This is even worse than Metropolis, and we have Lex Luthor!” Lois ranted. “Why _was_ there even a dragon for Danny to punch in the first place?! And why the fuck does some lunatic drop down right in front of us whenever I say this line?!”

 

A masked figure in a tight black-and-blue costume dropped down right in front of them.

 

Danny screamed.

Jessica snored.

Lois pinched the bridge of her nose. 

 

* * *

 

“You’re lying,” Lois said, crossing her arms. 

“Really, Miss Lane, it’s true!” Nightwing defended himself. “He hasn’t said a word!”

Lois squinted her eyes. “So you’re trying to tell me, Superman didn’t send you to keep an eye on me? That this is all a big coincidence, what with you suddenly deciding New York needed a new hero? Am I really to believe that?”

Nightwing opened and closed his mouth a few times, before finally settling on a helpless shrug and a careful “...yes?”

Lois was about to growl her disbelief at the hero, when Karen piped up.

“Excuse me,” she said politely. “I understand you know each other?”

“Kinda,” Lois explained. “He’s sort of a baby hero in Gotham.”

Nightwing let out an indignant yelp and an outraged “hey!”, which Lois ignored. 

“He’s also friends with Superman, who may or may not have ordered him to keep me out of trouble,” she continued, glaring at the young man, who harrumphed.

“It’s not like even Superman would be able to do that,” he grumbled. “I just wanted to see a different city, get my feet wet. Then I saw you, in trouble no less, and now I’m here,” he said, looking around. 

Then he smiled. “Heya, Danny!”

Danny grinned back. “Nice of you to join us, ‘wing!”

They did an elaborate and obviously practiced handshake.

Lois stared. 

“You know what? None of my business. Let’s just. Go home. Think. And stuff.”

Karen nodded. “And drink stuff. Don’t forget drinking stuff.”

 

* * *

 

“Hand? It’s not a hand,” Nightwing said, still in costume, and carefully sipping his hot chocolate.

“Not _a_ hand, ‘wing,” Danny said. “ _The_ Hand. It’s an evil ninja killing organisation.”

Nightwing shook his head. “Nah. It’s the League of Assassins,” he said.

Lois sat up straighter.

Karen and Danny exchanged looks. 

“And I suppose that name describes their actions?” Karen asked.

Nightwing just flashed his teeth in answer, and Karen sighed. “Of course,” she grumbled. 

Danny wasn’t convinced. 

“Those guys DD told me about were definitely Hand, though,” he said. “Can the League of Assassins mask their heartbeats?”

Nightwing tilted his head. “Well, not that I’m aware of, but then I don’t usually run around with a stethoscope, you know?”

Danny ignored him. “DD said, the guys that attacked you a few nights ago didn’t have any heartbeats. So I think it’s safe to say those were Hand.”

Nightwing pulled his legs under him. “Those guys tonight talked about Ra’s al Ghul, though. Those were League.”

He narrowed his eyes under his mask. “So where does that leave us?”

Lois and Karen had kept themselves in the background the whole time, but now stepped forward. 

“As far as I’m understanding this,” Karen said, “did the Hand try to kidnap Lois, while those guys today were more interested in me.”

Lois nodded and was about to add to this, when the door to the balcony opened and Daredevil stumbled in, leaving bloody footprints on the carpet.

“Matt!” Karen shouted, scrambling to get to him.

“Huh?” Daredevil said quietly before sniffing the air. “Oh. Uhm. Ouch.” he said, and crumbled to the floor.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This grew plot and a life of its own. Oops? Won't be able to finish it in the next chapter, so *surprise* there'll be at least one chapter more than originally intended. :)


	6. At home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna say, I'm loving all your comments <3 Everytime I upload a chapter, I'm kinda lurking behind my email account, ahahaha. (I've got a life, I swear).

It had looked worse than it actually was, Lois thought, watching the unconscious man on the couch closely. 

Daredevil. She’d never really seen him in the light, never gotten the chance to really watch him, so she took her fill. 

He was obviously a good looking guy, as far as she could tell… and she could tell pretty far, as the only clothes on his body were his mask and underpants. Karen had stripped him completely, whether to get to his injuries or to ogle him, Lois didn’t know, but she sure as hell wasn’t complaining either. 

After getting Daredevil nearly naked, Danny had done some glowy thing with his hands and Nightwing had patched up the wounds too small for Danny’s glowy magic to be concerned about. 

So now they were all standing in a semicircle around the mostly naked Daredevil, like a bunch of idiots. 

“Well,” Danny said, tilting his head. “He’ll be as good as new as soon as he wakes up.”

Nightwing nodded. “Good to hear. Getting stabbed can be rough.”

“Yes, well,” Karen shrugged, “it’s not like that isn’t happening at least once a week, so…”

Nightwing seemed taken aback.

“..uh..” said Lois.

“Once a week? What? I thought his clothes only looked like pyjamas, but really were lined with kevlar, like mine!” Nightwing blinked behind his mask, ignoring Lois.

Karen groaned. “I tried to tell him. We all tried to tell him, but no, the idiot thinks it’s some kind of divine punishment.”

“Um,” said Lois.

“Exactly!” Danny nodded, not paying Lois any heed. “He had a suit made of kevlar some time ago, but it was too bulky for him, I guess? And the helmet had horns that looked like little ears, to go with the theme. Looked kinda stupid, if you ask me.”

“Ahem,” tried Lois. 

“You’re wearing a green-and-yellow costume with your chest exposed,” Nightwing pointed out, his back to Lois. “Also, helmets with ears are not stupid. A little bit cute, perhaps, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

“Touché,” Danny grinned. “But then, I am the Immortal Iron Fist,” he said, rising up to his full height. 

“Sorry, but…” said Lois.

“You’re not immortal, though,” Karen pointed out. “And neither is that dumbass on my couch.”

“That dumbass can hear perfectly fine, though,” Daredevil’s voice rang loudly in the room. 

Everyone froze.

Lois shrugged. “I tried telling you. He’s awake.” 

 

* * *

 

“Heeeey DD, awake so soon, what a nice surprise!” Danny smiled and plopped down on the sofa.

“Why am I naked.” Daredevil grunted. 

“You were injured and we patched you up. Danny did his thing, so yeah. Uuuh, I’ll get you a blanket,” Karen said, rushing out of the room to do just that.

Lois watched as Daredevil slowly sat up. She could how he relaxed the moment he noticed his mask.

“Okay,” Daredevil relented after he got his blanket wrapped around himself. “That explains the naked part.” 

Then he tilted his head. “Doesn’t explain why Nightwing’s hanging upside down from your balcony, though.”

“Hey!” came Nightwing’s voice from outside, “I’m hiding here, alright? So you don’t freak out when you see a new face while naked!”

Daredevil snorted. “Won’t happen,” he said, smirking at Danny and Karen, who for some reason groaned.

Lois was confused, but at that moment Nightwing decided to come back in.

“Nice to meet you!” he said, beaming at Daredevil, and Lois got a creepy déjà-vu feeling. She furrowed her brow, but shrugged it off. 

“Yes, yes, this is all very nice and stuff - but what happened?” Karen interrupted, turning to Daredevil.

Who sighed.

“Ugh.” he said. “They got us. Me and Frank, I mean. I made a run for it, but Frank, he was too slow.”

 

* * *

 

Alarm bells shrilled in Lois’ head, and she was about to shake Daredevil by the shoulders, but Karen beat her to it.

“What? What do you mean, he was ‘too slow’? What happened? Is he.. is he dead?” she asked, barely holding it together.

“Ah, no.” Daredevil said, cheeks reddening, clearly embarrassed. Karen furrowed her brow.

“Matt, you better start talking now,” she said through gritted teeth. 

“Ugh,” -Matt- said. Lois made a mental note, again. “It’s the Hand. And something called the League?`Madame Gao and a guy named Raaschalgu or something-”

“Ra’s al Ghul,” interrupted Nightwing, sounding concerned. 

-Matt- nodded. “Yes. That. He and Madame Gao are having a competition. Winner gets New York City, as far as I’ve heard, before they snatched us.”

Nightwing’s eyebrows rose above his mask. “A competition? What kind?”

“Ugh,” said Daredevil for the third time. “They’ve got a list of heroes and vigilantes and so on. And how many points they’re worth. So. They snatch the people on the list, get their points and whoever wins gets New York City.”

Silence.

Everyone stared at Daredevil.

Karen finally found her voice. 

“You’re kidding, right?” she asked.

-Matt- shrugged under his blanket. “Wish I was, but that’s what I’ve heard. Didn’t they seem to be less murderous than usual to you?”

Karen and Danny tilted their heads before nodding. 

“Maybe a bit,” they allowed.

Danny bit his lip. “But, what _after_? You know, aren’t they just going to kill all they’ve snatched?”

Daredevil shook his head. “Apparently not. Madame Gao said that we’re all needed for some kind of great finale in a few years. So everyone will be set free after the two of them had their competition.”

“You got stabbed, though,” Lois pointed out.

Daredevil cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. 

“Yes, well. That happened after. Wasn’t them.”

At that moment, Nightwing silently crept closer. 

“So, DD, my pal, my friend, my guy,” he smiled, throwing an arm over Daredevil’s blanket covered shoulders. “Who’s worth what?”

“UGH!” said Matt.

 

* * *

 

Lois stared disbelievingly at Daredevil, while Nightwing desperately tried finding his breath again with Danny still laughing.

Karen hadn’t moved her hand from the facepalming position it was in for five minutes straight. 

“You can’t be serious,” Lois said.

Matt harrumphed.

“Okay, okay, to recap: you got caught after hearing who’s worth what _because Frank was smug that his head had more points on it than yours_? So you punched him in the face? That about sums it up?”

“It sounds stupid when you say it like that,” Daredevil sulked. 

Nightwing gave up on finding his breath.

 

* * *

 

“So, what are we doing now?” Danny asked while Daredevil stepped out to put on some clothes.

Karen stared at him. “We’ll get Frank back, of course. Then we’ll kick those wannabe-ninjas out of the city!”

Nightwing shrugged. “Fine with me. I’m in.”

Lois sighed. “I’m in, too. To find Frank. Not too sure about the ninjas, though.”

Danny grinned. “Then it’s decided! What are we waiting for?”

“For a better plan,” Daredevil grunted. “Ww go in like that, they’ll just snatch us up. Not, him, though,” he said, pointing at Nightwing. “Don’t think they know about him, he’s too new here. But the rest of us? Yeah, no. We need - and I can’t believe I’m saying this - a solid plan, starting with where to find them. And for that, we could really use some detective skills, so I’m gonna look for Jess.”

Karen blinked, confused. “Uh, that won’t be a problem, she’s sleeping in Lois’ bed,” she said, as if Daredevil should really know this without looking.

Now it was Matt’s turn to look confused. “No, she isn’t?” he said, tilting his head and sniffing the air, which in return confused Lois. 

They went to look.

The bed was empty.

“But we dumped- ah, gently put her there, like, three hours ago!” Danny said. “She was drunk off her ass!”

Nightwing carefully stepped closer to the window.

“It was opened recently,” he said, opening the window. “From the outside. Oh, also, there’s a rope,” he said, pulling the rope in.

On the end was a note, which Karen immediately snatched.

“It says ‘League: five points’,” she read out loud. 

 

Silence.

 

“Well,” Nightwing finally said. “Does that sound like an invitation to anyone else?

 


	7. Karaoke

“He’s not answering,” Lois said, putting down the phone. 

They all looked at each other, tense, before Daredevil nodded, his lips a grim line. “I’m going to check on him. Danny, with me. The rest of you try contacting everyone you know over a secure line. Tell them to leave the city, but no one will be going out alone.”

“Oh!” Karen exclaimed. “I just remembered. It’s Karaoke Night at Luke’s bar. That’s why he isn’t answering the phone!”

“Karaoke Night?” Daredevil asked.

“Yes, you know that Luke likes to sing.”

“...and I also know _how_ he sings,” Daredevil said, wincing. “Change of plans. I’ll check on everybody else, while you go and check on Luke.”

Lois shook her head. “Not going to happen, nobody’s going out alone, you just said it.” She turned to Nightwing and Danny. “One of you should go with him, the other with us,” she told them, ignoring the protesting Daredevil.

Danny looked at Nightwing. 

Nightwing looked at Danny.

“Karaoke for me!” both yelled in unison. 

Daredevil pinched the bridge of his nose. 

 

* * *

 

“‘Nightwing’s with me’,” Danny grumbled in his best Daredevil voice, “‘he can at least keep up’. Who died and put the horned guy in charge,” he huffed.

Karen patted his back. “It’s alright. I’m sure Matt just said that because he trusts you more to protect us,” she soothed.

“You really think that?” Danny said, perking up.

“Of course I do. As does she,” Karen said, elbowing Lois, who immediately nodded.

“Exactly. Also, you know Luke and Nightwing doesn’t,” she said.

Danny smiled at them. “Thanks guys.”

They made the rest of the way in silence until Lois blinked. 

“You know what, I could try again!” she grinned and looked up, clearing her throat. “At least here nobody just drops down right in front of me!”

Nothing happened. 

They waited some time, Danny and Karen looking at her, but it did, in fact, nobody just drop down right in front of them. 

Finally Lois shrugged. “Was worth a try,” she said as they finally arrived at Luke’s bar. Karen was about to grab the handle, when the door was flung open from the inside, and an unconscious guy in a ninja outfit sailed over their heads, chrashing into a dumpster. They all blinked at the door, where Luke Cage was in the process of throwing three more guys in a similar manner. 

“Ah,” Danny said. “I see you’ve met the reason why we’re here.” 

 

* * *

 

“Come again?” Luke said. 

The bar was empty except for them. An impromptu ninja visit will do that to karaoke night. 

“Battle for New York,” Karen repeated. 

“No, I heard you, it’s just… two ninja gangs? Really? Sweet Christmas,” Luke sighed. 

Danny nodded. “Yeah, you already know about the Hand, but now there’s some band of assassins and-”

“League,” said Lois.

“Yes, that,” said Danny. “League of assassins. Those outside are League, as far as I can tell. Explains why they tried to snatch you head-on, they don’t really know you. With the Hand, you’ll have to be more careful.”

Luke shrugged. “No worries. My muscles don’t care whether they throw League-ninjas or Hand-ninjas. I’ll protect you. But now - Frank’s gone, Jess’ gone. Anyone else?”

Karen squirmed a little. “We don’t really know yet. Matt and Nightwing are on it,” she said.

“Night-what? That the new guy in the skin tight costume, who flips around like gravity’s something that happens to other people?” 

“That’s the one,” Lois said. “He’s from Gotham, so I know him.” 

Luke nodded. “So now what? We all pile into Karen’s apartment and then what? Try to figure out where to go from there?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Danny said. “I heard Nightwing’s something of a detective, like Jess, so maybe he’ll be able to find the others. Otherwise, well,” he shrugged. “I guess we could always let us get snatched and punch our way out?” 

“That’s a terrible idea,” Karen, Lois, and Luke said. 

Danny pouted. “As if you have any better ideas,” he harrumphed. 

Lois stood up. “We should get back and try to come up with something better. Let me just…” she looked around. 

Karen caught on. “I’ll show you,” she said, standing up, and together they went to the restrooms. 

When they came back ten minutes later, the last faint traces of gas were curling out the windows. 

Danny and Luke were gone. 

 

* * *

 

“Gone?” Daredevil said, back at the apartment.

“Gone,” Karen said angrily. “We didn’t hear a thing, they were just gone when we came back!”

“They left this, though,” Lois said, handing Daredevil a piece of paper. He immediately gave it to Karen. 

“What does it say?” he asked her.

“It says ‘Jackpot. - Gao’,” she hissed. “Matt, this is getting out of control. We’re losing, and we’re not even playing. What about the others?”

Daredevil tilted his head. “I sent Foggy and Marcy away and waited until they left in Marcy’s car. I don’t think the Hand or the League know about the church. Nightwing and I split up and he went off to warn Misty and Danny’s friends and that’s pretty much all we could do.”

Lois licked her lips. “I could ask for help from Metropolis?” she said.

Daredevil shook his head. “No, I don’t think that would be a good idea. I don't want any more people involved in this. I mean, I thought about asking the Avengers for help, but it’s not really a global level thread, now, is it?” 

Karen blinked. “Your reasoning is stupid,” she said. “I will absolutely call the Avengers now. I don’t care that you don’t want them in Hell’s Kitchen, I want my friends back,” she hissed and started looking for her phone. 

“Damn, I must have dropped it somewhere,” she muttered.

Lois sighed. “Shame that my ‘at least here nobody just drops down right in front of us’ line doesn’t work anymore.”

 

There was a sound from the balcony, before the door blew off its hinges and ninjas began pouring in. 

 

Karen glared at Lois.

“You just had to say it.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm 99% sure I've read that 'gravity'-line somewhere and fell in love with it, but I can't for the life of me remember where.


	8. Booze in a cell

They put up an impressive fight, they really did - but in the end there was only one Daredevil, one Karen Page and one Lois Lane against about twenty Hand-ninjas. How all those people fit into Karen’s apartment was anyone’s guess, but it ended with the three of them captured and brought to an empty warehouse at the docks, because there isn’t any other way to store victims of kidnapping in New York City than a warehouse at the docks. 

They were thrown into a cell that, by any means, had no business even existing in that kind of building, but here they were.

As soon as the door had closed behind them, Karen and Lois sprang into action, looking for a way out.

To their surprise, Daredevil didn’t join them, and was instead approaching one of the darker corners of the dimly lit cell, kneeling down as soon as he got there.

“Hey, Frank,” Lois could hear him say. “You alright?”

Frank’s answer was a simple grunt, that sounded vaguely like “I’m always alright, Red.” 

Karen immediately chose to abandon their search and rushed to where the Punisher was slowly sitting up, Lois hot on her heels. 

Daredevil, meanwhile, cocked his head. “Danny and Luke are here, too, in the cell next to ours,” he said, gesturing at the concrete wall to their left. “But they’re both still drugged up and unconscious.”

Lois had long since given up on wondering how he knew things like that and took him by his word. 

“So we’re all here?” she asked, and Daredevil nodded.

“All except Jessica,” he said grimly. 

Karen finished fussing over Frank and checking him for wounds, as he had finally managed to prop himself up, leaning heavily on her. 

“Seems like the League lost this one,” he said gruffly. “So Gao might let us out soon.” He grimaced slightly at the thought of depending on Gao of all people, and Daredevil grimaced right there with him.

“Ugh, I hate it when she’s smug,” he harrumphed.

Karen blinked. “She’s always smug.”

“Exactly,” Matt said. 

Lois was about to ask who the heck this Gao-person was, when the door opened and Madame Gao entered the room, an army of ninjas behind her. 

 

* * *

 

“It is very nice of you to follow my invitation,” she said, smug smile in place. “I must admit that I had feared to be too late for you, my dear,” she continued, gesturing at Daredevil.

Matt gritted his teeth, but said nothing. 

Gao inclined her head. “Unfortunately, this will also be the last time for me to see you, and, I suppose it will also be the last time for you to hear me,” she said. 

Matt balled his fists. “And _I_ suppose that doesn’t mean you’re leaving the city, are you? What about that future big plan of yours, for what you needed us to still be alive in a couple of years?”

Gao let out a pearly laugh that sent shivers down everyone’s spine. “Oh, dear child, I knew you were listening in on my conversation with Ra's al Ghul. It would not have benefitted me to send you into a panic, so I will admit to having led you astray.”

“Impossible,” Daredevil hissed. “I would have known if you were lying.”

“Impossible?” Madame Gao wondered, “oh, I see. Stick was so very right, you still have so much to learn. It truly is a shame that you will not have the opportunity to do so. My men now will--”

 

They never learned what Gao’s men were about to do, as a crash sounded outside that seemed to shake the entire warehouse. Gao immediately turned her attention away from them, instructing her minions to see what was happening. Then she stepped outside, closing the door behind her, and leaving the four of them in their cell, looking at each other.

 

“Well,” Karen said, “I’d say whatever’s happening out there there can only be good for us, can’t it?”

 

* * *

 

The noise didn’t die down in the least. People were yelling, walls seemed to shake, and the dim lights began to flicker.

After some very long minutes, it became eerily quiet outside, only interrupted by a tentative, soft knock on the door, which Lois thought she might have imagined, because who the hell knocks on the cell door?

“Hello?” a voice sounded from outside.

Ah, Lois thought. Yes, that made sense. Nightwing would absolutely knock on a cell door. So the blue bird was about to rescue them, having somehow subdued all of their captors, including the creepy woman. She was about to answer, when Daredevil stood up.

“Madame Gao has the key,” he shouted to Nightwing, because yes, they were still stuck in their cell.

“Madame Gao - is that the old lady? About yea high - Lois imagined him waving down with his palms - creepy as hell, seems to be the leader?” came the answer through the door.

“That’s her,” Frank shouted back.

“Ah,” Nightwing said. “Yeah, she’s gone, so that might be a problem. Let me check if-”

“Urgh, just get away from the door there!” another voice interrupted, and not two seconds later the door flew off its hinges with such vehemence, that parts of the brick wall crumbled down.

Inside the cell Lois blinked through the dust and was greeted with the sight of Jessica Jones impatiently crossing her arms.

“You coming or what?” she snapped and looked at Nightwing. “You get them, I’ll look for Luke and Rand. Urgh, I’m too sober for this shitshow,” she said, turned on her heel and stalked away in order to find more doors to punch through.

Nightwing stepped into their cell and made a beeline for Frank, helping him up. 

“Sooo…. I guess that’s that?” he said, smiling.

Karen shook her head. “Do I even want to know how you did that?” 

Nightwing just shrugged. “Actually, I didn’t do anything except dunk Jessica’s head in a bucket of water to wake her up. The League caught up with me and threw me in her cell. She was still asleep there and, well. Not for long after that.”

He looked slightly uncomfortable and lowered his voice. “But I think she’s cross with me now,” he whispered. “Like, she’s _really_ grumpy.”

“Ah, no. That’s her default,” Daredevil, Karen, and Frank grumbled reassuringly in unison. 

At that moment, Jessica came back with Danny thrown over her shoulders in a firewoman’s carry and Luke’s foot in her hand, dragging his unconscious form behind her. 

“You coming? My booze is calling for me,” she harrumphed and made her way outside. 

The others looked at each other, shrugged, and followed suit through the warehouse full of ninjas and thugs lying there with various types of health problems.

 

* * *

 

Back at Karen’s apartment, now overcrowded with more vigilantes than it could sustain, for all intents and purposes, Jessica happily hugged a bottle of whisky and made herself comfortable on the sofa. Luke and Danny still hadn’t woken up, so Frank and Matt dragged them to the bed, where Karen threw a blanket over them.

Nightwing perched himself up on the back of the sofa, while Karen and Lois decided to steal two glasses of Jessica’s whisky. 

Frank made himself at home in Karen’s bean bag with Daredevil draped over him, as that bean bag was the only thing left if he didn’t want to sit on the floor. Frank just harrumphed at him. 

 

“So,” Nightwing finally piped up, “that’s it, isn’t it? I mean, we defeated the bad guys and-”

“ _I_ did,” Jessica slurred. “Y’all were useless as _fuck_.”

“-of course, we’d been lost without you, Jess,” Nightwing grinned, and Jessica nodded, satisfied. 

Daredevil grunted. “We should still be careful and don’t let our guard down for the foreseeable future, though,” he said, and everyone nodded. 

Squirming a little, Daredevil turned to Lois. “And I do think it’s time to let you in on the secret identities, Lois, it’s getting old real fast, and I’m pretty sure, Nightwing knows anyway,” he said, which Nightwing confirmed with a nod of his head. 

“Okay,” Daredevil said, tilting his head at Lois, “I know it might be a bit hard to grasp, but I’m-”

“You’re Matthew Murdock, attorney at law and Karen’s former boss,” Lois said dryly, then blinked, as everyone looked at her, astounded. “What?” she defended. “Oh, _please_ , I _am_ one of the best reporters on the planet! You gave plenty of hints! Everyone called you “Matt”, all the blind jokes you thought I hadn’t noticed, the things you just knew without looking, your _mask_ that only covers your _eyes_ \- just how stupid do you think I am? Besides, no one I’m regularly in contact with could hide such a secret from me,” she said, grinning, and taking a sip of her whisky, while everyone continued to stare at her. 

Finally, Matt laughed and took off his mask. The slight tension that had followed that revelation went away immediately, as everyone joined into his laughter, with Lois laughing so hard she began to cry. 

“Oh my gosh,” she giggled, brushing her tears away, and Karen handed her a tissue. 

“Don’t cry, from what you’ve told me, I’m pretty sure Superman can smell your tears, and if he just dropped in here out of nowhere, I don’t know what I’d do,” Karen laughed.

 

There was a _whush_ and the carefully replaced balcony door flew open, revealing a stylized “S” on a broad blue chest.

“Lois?” Superman boomed as quietly as possible, as it was the middle of the night, “are you okay? I heard crying.”

 

Nightwing began gasping for air and had trouble staying perched on the sofa. 

Lois’ face got beet-red. “I’ll be right back,” she said and rushed outside, leaving the rest of the group in stunned silence as Superman scooped her up and flew out of sight. 

 

Matt blinked. “That was Superman,” he said.

“Fucking Superman,” Frank confirmed.

“Awww, and he didn’t even say Hi to me,” Nightwing pouted.

Karen, though. Karen blinked. Then tilted her head.

“Huh. Clark Kent. Who would’ve thought. Nice guy, met him at a conference,” she said

Nightwing fell off the couch.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now! Thank you all for reading <3 I'm always happy to get comments and kudos and if you want, find me on tumblr, I'm nauticalypso. See ya :D


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